Might sound like a stupid question but I’ll ask anyway…
Bought a Rockbass, nice, comfy, black. But came with chrome hardware. Started replacing chrome bits with black ones, and got my eye on the bridge. I can’t really explain it but the bridge feels flimsy. Cheap. Poor quality material, if that makes sense. But, worst of all, chrome. It has to go. This thing would look much better on it: SP W 30115 4B
Which takes us to the stupid question part… Are “Warwick replacement parts” bridges the same as what comes stock on a Rockbass? Any chance it would feel different than the stock one?
You don’t say what type of Rockbass you have, but there are quality differences between the LX, NT and AS Rockbass series, with the NT and AS being a step above the LX.
The Warwick Teambuilt and Masterbuilt both use the same quality Hardware, so if you buy German Warwick parts you’ll get the same as the custom shop.
Shown below is a Rockbass Streamer NT side by side with a Warwick Masterbuilt/Custom Shop Streamer.
The Warwick hardware is more precisely machined and better finished than the RB, but both feel the same to adjust. Neither feel cheap or flimsy.
I don’t have a Rockbass LX here to compare, but from memory they felt noticeably different in terms of quality.
Wait, are you saying that even among the Rockbass ones, they use different quality components? Then it’s a Vampyre Dark Lord. I did not mention it because the discussion may have derailed in the direction of “wth am i doing with that F#0 string”.
And, as i said, it feels flimsy, not necessarily is flimsy
I don’t know. I’m not a fan of chrome stuff and maybe it’s just the quality of the finish that gives me that flimsy feeling.
But, more importantly, thanks for the clarification. I’ll go order one of those nice black bridges. Thanks!
[EDIT] Huh, i guess context, as it were, makes a big difference. Chrome looks great on the ones in your picture. Must be the body color. But that custom shop one… I’ll stop drooling in a minute. Hopefully.
Oh no, don’t get me wrong, i have nothing against the quality of the instrument as a whole. If anything, i’m looking to buy more. It’s just that darn chrome bridge. If they still made them, i’d be all over the shops looking for a german Dark Lord, just based on the quality of the Rockbass version.
I doubt that Rockbass and Team built bridge would function differently. It may “feel” different certainly look different because the Rockbass only offer in one maybe 2 finishes compare to Warwick Germany.
If you based the sound quality between Warwick and RockBass it’s not much difference, certainly I can’t tell in a blind test, but lookie loo test huge difference. The feel of a Masterbuilt Leland Sklar Starbass is just out of this world premium compares to the pretty good feeling Rockbass version, and it only cost less than 10X the price
If you want to go with a certain look then you have to get the Warwick bridge. I don’t have to chrome Warwick bridge or tuners to compare but I can tell you this the Masterbuilt tuners are another level altogether.
